


Stop and Start

by AtropaAzraelle (Polyoxyethylene)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Crushes, Driving, Driving Lesson, Gift Fic, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Showing Off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 03:10:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17154179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyoxyethylene/pseuds/AtropaAzraelle
Summary: Ignis had learned to drive young; he'd taken a civilian driving course at sixteen, and the Crownsguard's own advanced test almost as soon as he'd been officially inducted. It had been necessary to his life as Noct's primary chaperone and chamberlain, for all he was supposed to be an advisor one day. He could hardly chaperone Noct effectively if they had to rely on others for transport.Gladio, at nineteen going on twenty, was approaching the normal age for gaining his licence with the Crownsguard. Which was why he'd turned to Ignis. “Just a few pointers?” he'd asked for. “So I don't look like an idiot in my first lesson.”





	Stop and Start

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sauronix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sauronix/gifts).



> A gift for Sauronix, who has been an amazing friend and beta all year. You've kept me going when I've felt like stopping, and you've made my writing a hundred times better than I can make it on my own. I hope this is what you wanted.

Ignis strode past the sleek, polished cars of the Crownsguard convoy, parked up and sleeping soundly as they were. Some of them were fast, some of them were big, all of them were armoured. The Regalia was counted among the ranks, reserved solely for the use of the royal family, and it stood out from the crowd with all the expected majesty.

Gladio trailed after him. Ignis didn't have to look over his shoulder to know that Gladio was eyeing each car up as they went to see if he could determine which they'd be using. Ignis had learned to drive young; he'd taken a civilian driving course at sixteen, and the Crownsguard's own advanced test almost as soon as he'd been officially inducted. It had been necessary to his life as Noct's primary chaperone and chamberlain, for all he was supposed to be an advisor one day. He could hardly chaperone Noct effectively if they had to rely on others for transport.

Gladio, at nineteen going on twenty, was approaching the normal age for gaining his licence with the Crownsguard. Which was why he'd turned to Ignis. “Just a few pointers?” he'd asked for. “So I don't look like an idiot in my first lesson.”

Ignis had hesitated. “I haven't been driving long enough myself to be qualified to teach,” he'd replied.

Gladio had brushed his concerns off. “Just a couple of laps around the parking lot,” he'd pushed, brown eyes pleading in a way that went straight to Ignis's heart and gave it a prod. It wasn't a look that worked for anyone else. For all Noct had tried he didn't have the right colour of eyes for it. “Let me get a feel for the car before I get in it with Dustin,” he added. “Come on, Iggy, I'll take you for pizza after?”

That was what had clinched it for Ignis, not that he'd admit as much: the offer of pizza, which was really an offer of a night on Gladio's sofa at the Amicitia house eating pizza and popcorn and watching whatever films Gladio had in mind until it got so late that it was early. Ignis was bad at unwinding on his own, but Gladio helped him to turn his mind away from the stresses of his days.

Even if Gladio's arm landing across his shoulders always made Ignis's breath catch and his heart hammer.

“Here we are,” Ignis declared, as they approached the last car in the lot. It was neither as sleek, nor as well kept as the others. The light bounced off one of the side panels at funny angles that gave away every minor dent, scrape, and near miss the car had endured in its tenure. The paint on the front right wing was ever so slightly different in shade to the rest of the body. It had been like that when Ignis had used it too; rumour had it that his Majesty had been the one to necessitate the replacement back when he was merely a Highness.

He stopped in front of the bonnet and turned to find Gladio giving the car the same look Ignis himself had probably worn when he was first brought to the vehicle. “Been through the wars, hasn't it?” he asked.

“Most likely,” Ignis answered lightly, and gave the keys a light, underhand toss towards Gladio.

Gladio snatched them out of the air with one hand. “Guess everyone's gotta start somewhere,” he conceded, and gave the keys a critical look.

“I doubt they'd have allowed us to borrow the Regalia,” Ignis answered. Although he could imagine the look on Dustin's face had he made the request.

“Could have used your car,” Gladio pointed out, a grin twitching across his lips.

Ignis felt a burst of paternal protectiveness, as if Gladio had suggested he take his child out for a wild night on the tiles. He swore he could feel his heart stutter unpleasantly in his chest. “I think not,” he answered, quickly, and turned towards the training car. Gladio's laughter followed him as the doors unlocked with a soft clunk and they both slid in to their respective seats.

Ignis hadn't been in the passenger seat for some months now, and it was an uncomfortable experience. It felt alien to be sat in a car without pedals at his feet and an instrument display at his chest, and the gearstick was on the wrong side of him. He watched Gladio adjust himself in the driver's seat, curling to look at the pedals at his feet and sit himself up properly. His head brushed the roof of the car.

Gladio reached down between his legs, his hand disappearing under the seat, and then it slid back a few inches. “Better,” Gladio said. “Some real short stop must have used this last.”

“That might well be me,” Ignis pointed out, with mock offense, which earned him another crooked grin from Gladio. “Can you reach the pedals?”

“Iggy, I can probably sit in the back and still reach these pedals.”

Ignis glanced down at Gladio's lap, following the lines of his long legs in the footwell. “Not comfortably,” he pointed out, although he had to agree, he might not be far wrong. Not all cars were built for someone of Gladio's stature, and the training car was one of them.

“I'm comfortable,” Gladio answered, pressing his foot against the brake pedal and pushing it all the way to the mat in demonstration. Then he raised his hand and tapped the roof of the car, which was brushing his hair with his every movement. “As much as I'm gonna be.”

Ignis gave a nod. A couple of the cars in the lot were convertible, the Regalia included, but they weren't something entrusted to a novice driver. “Now,” he said, getting his thoughts back on track and away from Gladio's height difficulties, “this car has manual transmission, so the pedals are the accelerator, the brake, and the clutch,” he explained, pointing to them in turn.

“How old is this car?” Gladio asked, dubiously, eyeing some of the dials and the gearstick.

“Older than you,” Ignis admitted, with a flash of a smile, “but more than half the cars in the Crownsguard's possession are manual. They allow more fine control than an automatic.”

Gladio gave a grumble and shuffled in his seat. Ignis restrained a smirk. Personally, he liked the control a manual car gave to its driver, but it could be daunting, especially for a first lesson. “Don't worry,” he assured, “it's not as complicated as it seems.” Gladio gave another, unhappy sounding grunt. “Ordinarily before setting off you're expected to do an inspection of the vehicle,” he began, “and when you're with a real instructor you will, but for now--”

“You, cutting corners?” Gladio asked, a teasing lilt to his voice.

Ignis raised an eyebrow and then pushed his glasses up his nose. “I _could_ make you walk around the car to ensure all the lights work and there are no explosives,” he answered, “but I thought I'd go easy on you for your first time in a vehicle so I did it myself earlier.”

Gladio erupted in a guffaw at the answer, and Ignis buried his smile under a thick veneer of professionalism that he knew would never fool Gladio. “Yeah, all right.”

“So,” Ignis continued, fighting to keep the smile that wanted to spread across his face under control, “first you'll need to adjust your mirrors.”

The process of adjusting them took a couple of minutes. Gladio was taller than anyone else in their ranks, and they came to the conclusion that whoever had used the car last was probably one of the shorter recruits. When Ignis was happy that Gladio could definitely see behind them effectively he had him double check the car was in neutral and the handbrake was on. “Turn the key to start the engine,” he instructed.

The car started first time, giving a rumble that was deceptively loud in the echoing car park. Ignis felt the car shudder to life underneath them both and glanced sidelong at Gladio, who was wearing a look of intense concentration. “All right?” he asked.

Gladio turned and flashed Ignis a smile so bright it was stunning. “Yeah,” he answered, “just paying attention.”

“Good,” Ignis answered. “Now depress the clutch,” he began, watching Gladio's thigh sink as he followed Ignis's instructions, “and keep it there while you slide the car into first gear.”

Gladio had to lean in slightly to check the diagram on the top of the gear stick to find first. Ignis tried to ignore the nervous flip it caused in his stomach and told himself it was the fact that Gladio needed to check more than it was his increased proximity. He'd never realised how closed in he felt riding in the passenger seat before.

The backs of Gladio's fingers brushed against the outside of Ignis's thigh as he slotted the engine into first. Ignis stayed resolutely still, not wanting to look jumpy at the slightest contact. This was Gladio for crying out loud. “For our purposes today I want you to depress the brake,” he said, next, keeping his mind on the task at hand, “and then release the handbrake.”

“Purposes today?” Gladio asked, even as he followed Ignis's instructions and looked down at the handbrake sitting between them both as he clicked the button in and pushed it all the way down.

“It's not strictly necessary when you're on a truly flat road,” Ignis admitted, “but it's a good habit to get into as it'll make sloped starts less confusing when you come to those.” Gladio gave a thoughtful nod, and Ignis sensed he was waiting for the next instruction. “Very slowly,” he said, “I want you to lift your foot off the clutch,” he said, casting his mind back to when he'd began his lessons as a civilian. “If you ease off the brake you should feel the point where the car wants to start moving forward, and then give it just a little gas.”

Gladio's expression became clouded with intense concentration again. It had taken Ignis a few attempts to actually find that point reliably, but in the end it mostly came down to familiarity with the vehicle. This had been the same one he'd learned in for the advanced course, and he found himself mimicking the movement with his own foot as he silently urged Gladio to find the sweet spot.

After a few seconds the car gave a jump, and then the engine died. Ignis pulled the handbrake on with a ratcheting clunk as Gladio gave a groan. “Too fast,” he advised. “Try for a smooth, gentle touch”

The look Gladio shot at him suggested he could think of ten different ways to turn that into innuendo, but was refraining for the sake of Ignis's dignity. He turned away just as Ignis turned to fix him with a carefully blank expression, and began running through the start up procedure again.

“Neutral, engine, clutch, first, remove the handbrake,” Ignis intoned, as Gladio performed each step. The car shivered to life again. “You can eschew keeping the footbrake pressed if it helps and just depress the accelerator if it helps, I know it's a lot to keep track off to begin with. Don't worry about how long it takes you,” he advised, as Gladio huffed and settled in to slipping the car in first and trying to get it easing forward again, “once you've found the biting point it'll come more easily.”

“Right,” Gladio answered, although it sounded as if he was answering simply to acknowledge that something had been said.

Slowly the car began to roll forward. Ignis grinned as the vehicle moved a few steady inches, and he saw Gladio's face lighting up. “Is your foot all the way off the clutch?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Gladio answered. “Now what?”

“To stop, press the clutch all the way again, and step on the brake.”

The car didn't have very much forward momentum, which was lucky because it lurched to a halt. Ignis felt the tiny amount of inertia they'd gathered pull him forward, and he did his best not to wince. “A little too heavy on the brake,” he advised.

“Sorry.”

“It's fine,” Ignis assured him, turning to look at the face of frustrated bafflement that was starting to cross Gladio's features. “We'll do the starting and braking a few more times, and then we'll try a lap around the car park,” he said. Gladio's expression didn't shift, and a frown was ticking the corner of his mouth down. “I stalled five times before I got the car to roll,” he confessed, “you're doing well.”

“Really?” Gladio asked, turning to look at him with hopeful scepticism. 

“Really,” Ignis confirmed, his heart pricking at the sight. It wasn't often he saw Gladio lacking confidence with someone.

“Least it's not just me,” Gladio said. Ignis saw his knuckles briefly whiten on the steering wheel. “It's a lot to think about at once.”

“It is,” Ignis agreed, watching the frustration start to slip slowly away from Gladio's expression, “and no one expects you to get it right the first time. Your first few lessons will probably be repeating this procedure a lot. It's more about how comfortable you are with the car than how good you are, or will be, a driver.”

He watched Gladio take his words in, and his resolve return to the surface. Gladio gave a huff, shuffled his position in the seat a couple of inches straighter, and then began to run through the starting procedure again. “First gear, emergency brake off,” Ignis heard him mutter, “gas.”

Gladio stalled the car another two times before they went for the lap around the car park. When the engine began to strain in first Ignis talked him through shifting up into second gear, which resulted in a warning judder but not quite another stall. He could see Gladio's confidence growing as he turned the wheel, negotiating gentle corners with relative ease.

“Do you want to complete another lap?” Ignis offered, finding Gladio's furrowed brow as he focused on the turns to be endearing, and his soft smiles as his confidence grew on the straights to be charming.

“Sure,” Gladio answered, and sounded, for the first time, like he was really enjoying being in control of the car.

“It's not bad, is it?” Ignis asked, watching Gladio a little more than he was watching the road.

Gladio's smile drew wide enough to show his teeth, and he risked a glance over at Ignis after completing another turn. “I could get used to it.”

“Try taking her up into third,” Ignis advised, unable to resist egging Gladio on just a little further, “and slip back down into second for the corners.”

The sound of the engine shifted into the easy, familiar rumble of a car being actually driven instead of simply led around a car park. Gladio accelerated a little more as the car rewarded him with some extra speed for his efforts, and Ignis kept an eye on the speedometer as subtly as he could. The marker rose towards street driving speed as their turn approached.

A warning to slow down made it to the tip of Ignis's tongue, but never made it out. The car lurched as Gladio broke, and then turned, throwing Ignis against Gladio's shoulder as he negotiated the corner at too high a speed.

“Sorry,” Gladio said, as Ignis fought to right himself and the engine cut out in another stall as their speed had dropped too much for the gear they were in. Ignis pulled the handbrake on again. “I forgot to go down a gear,” Gladio admitted, sounding very much like he expected a scolding.

“You're also in possession of a lead foot,” Ignis murmured, removing his glasses and giving the lenses an idle wipe. “We have been at this a while,” he conceded. He could see Gladio's apologetic wince out of the corner of his eye, even with his attention locked on his glasses. “Perhaps it's time for a break.” He settled his glasses back over his nose before he turned to look at Gladio. “We can meet again tonight, if you'd like?” he offered.

Gladio's face shifted from contrite and abashed to surprised and hopeful. “Yeah?” he asked. “You mean it?”

“I'm sure I can spare an hour or so,” Ignis replied, knowing that he'd battle both hell and high water to do so for that look of hope on Gladio's face.

“Thanks Iggy,” Gladio said, throwing Ignis a smile that contained more warmth than Ignis could bear. “I thought for a minute I'd scared you.”

Ignis allowed himself a smirk. “It takes a lot more than some heavy braking and a fast corner to scare me,” he answered. An idea was bubbling in his mind. It would be showing off, he knew, but the idea was there, tempting him. “Will you be considering taking the advanced course?” he asked, with deliberate innocence.

“Dad says I should,” Gladio answered, “so long as I don't flunk this. You already passed it didn't you?”

Ignis murmured his confirmation, and then shot Gladio a faint, dangerous smile. “Would you like to see what's involved?”

“Sure,” Gladio answered.

“Swap over, then,” Ignis told him, a smile spreading across his face. He scanned their position in the car park, and their relative proximity to the other Crownsguard vehicles as he got out, and walked around the car to change seats with Gladio. The seat needed to slide forwards again, and he adjusted the mirrors as Gladio settled himself into the passenger seat.

He slipped the car back into neutral before turning the engine over once more. The Crownsguard had three learner cars in total, all of them rather banged up, and the one Ignis had commandeered for Gladio's first informal lesson was the one Ignis had found he preferred. The engine was small, and the car was boxy, but the controls were smoother than either of the other two, which had seen more than their fair share of novices over their years of service.

“Seat belt,” he warned, curling his fingers around the steering wheel.

“Am I gonna need it?” Gladio asked.

Ignis tilted his head so he could shoot Gladio a look over the top corner of his glasses. “Oh yes.”

He didn't move them off until he heard the satisfying clunk of Gladio's seatbelt locking into place, and then he took them on a sedate journey around the car park until he sensed that Gladio was relaxing. There was a nice straight stretch with enough space to do what he intended, and some good solid supporting columns behind them. They would do just fine.

He didn't give Gladio any warning as he gunned the engine, quickly racing up into fourth and then fifth gear, pushing the car for every inch of its accelerative power. Gladio tensed in the seat next to him as the opposite wall approached rapidly.

At the last moment Ignis broke hard, forcing the car to a dead stop and throwing them both against the restraint of their belts. He didn't give Gladio a second to recover before dragging the car immediately into reverse and flooring the pedal, sending them hurtling backwards.

Gladio braced himself again, and halfway down the straight they'd covered Ignis yanked on the wheel, throwing the car around into a full one eighty, and then immediately putting it into first gear and accelerating forwards again, up each gear as the engine began to scream.

It was the wheels that squealed as Ignis threw the car around a corner and drew them up to take a run at the supporting columns. Gladio's breathy swear hissed between his lips as Ignis took the columns like a slalom, wheels screeching and engine roaring, and then used the handbrake to execute another sharp turn just before they ran into the parked cars at the end of the run, steering them away from the obstacle with inches to spare.

Judging by the way Gladio's knuckles had turned white on the car seat, he'd seen enough for one day. Ignis let the car drop down to a more sane speed, and carefully took them back up to its original parking spot. He turned, resting his arm across the back of Gladio's chair as he reversed the car into position. When they came to a stop he put the car back in neutral, pulled on the handbrake, and then turned the engine off. “Well?”

Gladio was staring at him. “Damn, Iggy,” he eventually said, seeming lost for words.

“I can also break roadblocks, drive in convoy, and push another car out of danger,” he said, unable to keep the slightly smug smile off his face as he did.

Gladio gave a low whistle. “Guess we're in safe hands so long as yours are on the wheel,” he said. “I might need new trousers though.”

Ignis gave a snort of laughter, and then immediately covered his mouth with the back of his hand. He was always embarrassed by the way he laughed, but never with Gladio. Gladio's reaction was always the same as it was right now; his eyes lighting up with his smile to see his friend so genuinely amused. “I hope not,” he said, “because I'm not cleaning it.”

Gladio chuckled in response. “No, we're good,” he replied.

“Still desirous of another lesson tonight?” Ignis asked.

“Hell yeah,” Gladio replied, with genuine enthusiasm. “I'll take you for pizza after.”

Ignis considered that invitation. An hour or so driving with Gladio, followed by pizza, and doubtless a drink or two, and perhaps a film. There were much worse ways to spend an evening. “Very well.”

Gladio's seatbelt clicked as he released himself, and Ignis mirrored the movement, all set to explain to Dustin that he wished to keep the keys for another few hours yet. “Hey, Iggy?” Gladio's voice broke into his thoughts, and Ignis glanced at him before he opened the car door. “The driver's seat suits you.”

Ignis blinked, about to ask what Gladio meant by that, but then Gladio was making his escape from the vehicle, the metal door slamming shut behind him and leaving Ignis sat in the car alone. He watched Gladio move around the car, throwing him a smile, and a beckoning wave through the windscreen before his body gave up on waiting for his brain to deal with the task at hand and he exited the car himself.

He could ask what Gladio had meant by that tonight, he decided. No point in getting caught up in it now.


End file.
